Voices

Aug 9, 2025, 16:13

Niranjala Siriwardena: Survivorship with Dignity, Your Story Matters

Niranjala Siriwardena, Cancer Survivor and Former Manager at PwC Australia, shared on LinkedIn:

“Survivorship with Dignity: Share Your Story to Shape Change

When I returned to work after surviving thyroid cancer, I thought the hardest part was behind me.

I was wrong.

The silence, exclusion, and discrimination I faced after treatment opened my eyes to a bigger truth:

Thousands of people in Australia and around the world — have lived the same story in silence.

Now, I’m building Australia’s first White Paper on Workplace Cancer Survivorship.

It will be presented to organisations such as Cancer Australia, the VCCC Alliance, the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission, COSA (Clinical Oncology Society of Australia), Cancer Voices, Rare Cancers Australia, and MASCC — to push for urgent policy and culture change.

This is where I need your voice .

If you’ve faced exclusion, bias, or silence in the workplace after cancer, chronic illness, trauma, or caregiving — your story matters.

The survey is safe, anonymous, and open to people of all genders, in Australia and globally.

You do not need to share your name or workplace only your truth.

Every response will be used respectfully and anonymously to show leaders what needs to change and why.

Take the survey here.

Share this post so more voices can be heard.

Together, we can rewrite the system.

With gratitude,
Niranjala Siriwardena
Lead Author – Australia’s First Workplace Cancer Survivorship White Paper.”

Niranjala Siriwardena: Survivorship with Dignity, Your Story Matters